Chapter 2: The Guardian Pao Pei
Xiao Mei opened her eyes, annoyed by the tiny voice calling her nonstop.
"Master... Master, wake up." A small stone rolled around on the pillow where Xiao Mei was resting. When it saw that she wasn't moving, it started making noise again.
"Is Master dead...?" "Master, wake up."
"Who's talking near my ear! I'm trying to sleep!" Xiao Mei yelled, irritated. She looked around and realized that she was in her own bedroom.
Xiao Mei vaguely remembered dreaming about the apocalypse, but the pain felt too real to be just a dream. The events felt so vivid that she was scared, almost like it wasn't a dream. But if everything was real, why was she lying in her own bed instead of on the street?
Confused by the feelings, Xiao Mei sat up at the edge of her bed. She shook her head lightly and muttered to herself.
"I thought I heard someone speaking." She said as she walked around the room.
"It's just me here, so who's talking? This is strange."
Before she could finish complaining to herself, the small voice interrupted again, and this time it was louder than before.
"Master... Pao Pei is speaking." The stone that was on the pillow had rolled to the edge of the bed and stood upright like an egg on a shelf. Then it started speaking again.
"Pao Pei sent Master back... Pao Pei wants a reward."
This time, Xiao Mei noticed the stone because it was hopping around in front of her at the edge of the bed.
Xiao Mei's mouth fell open, so wide that a fly might have flown in.
"Wh-wha-what? Can stones talk?" This time, the beautiful girl stammered.
"Hey! Am I hallucinating?" Xiao Mei walked around, rubbing her eyes and looking again.
Pao Pei tilted and followed her as she moved, behaving like a wobbly egg doll looking at her.
"Pao Pei spoke. Master is not crazy." The little stone seemed to be giving up. Maybe it regretted choosing her as its master. This woman didn't seem very mentally stable. Look at her, her mouth's wide open again. Was she trying to let it jump into her mouth?
Xiao Mei was in shock, her mouth still hanging open. In her life, she had never seen a stone that could talk. She rubbed her chest gently to calm herself because her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.
She took a deep breath and looked at the stone that was wobbling at the edge of her bed. The stone was the size of a jujube, with a rounded shape like an egg and a mix of gray and purple color with sparkling threads inside. She collected herself and asked again.
"Are you a stone?"
Pao Pei sighed as if it had just had enough. If it had hands, it would have rubbed its temples. This woman was really clueless. It was an egg, not a stone, yet she still asked if it was a stone.
"Pao Pei is Pao Pei. How can a living thing be a stone?" It had access to the knowledge of this planet, and life forms here were divided into plants, animals, and non-plant, non-animal entities. Pao Pei didn't fit neatly into any category, but it still had the characteristics of a living creature.
Xiao Mei, who was now sitting on the floor instead of standing, smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
"Sorry, but you really look like a stone."
Pao Pei, now floating in front of Xiao Mei, dimmed a bit, looking dejected. But only for a moment. It shifted slightly, glowed a little brighter, and began to introduce itself.
"Pao Pei is the guardian of Master. We are a rare species, only one of us exists in a galaxy."
"Are you an alien?" Xiao Mei was getting excited. She was talking to an alien egg.
"Yes... if by alien you mean a living being from another world," it replied.
Xiao Mei moved a little closer to Pao Pei, almost reaching out to touch it.
"We made a guardian contract. If Master dies, Pao Pei dies. If Master lives, Pao Pei lives."
Now Xiao Mei really wanted to cry. When did she make a contract with an alien? And what does it mean that they die together? The curiosity she had felt earlier was now replaced by the realization that she was completely at a loss.
She had only two choices: accept the fact that she was hallucinating and go see a doctor, or believe what she was seeing and accept this little Pao Pei.
Of course, she chose the second option... after all, having a guardian seemed better than treating a mental breakdown.
"Your name is Pao Pei, right? Alright, little Pao Pei, can you tell me what's going on?"
Pao Pei began recounting the events from the time Xiao Mei had the accident. It was a small egg buried in a meteorite that fell to Earth, and Xiao Mei, after being hit by a car, was thrown into the meteorite where Pao Pei was. The blood that dripped on the egg formed a bond between her and Pao Pei.
The little creature saw her on the brink of death, and with the world heading for disaster, it used its powers to send her back through a wormhole, reversing time by half a year. This meant that she had just graduated and had only half a year left to prepare for the apocalypse.
Xiao Mei realized she had a difficult task ahead. Her survival depended on how well she prepared this time. And Pao Pei, the alien guardian, seemed like a divine blessing sent to help her, a poor girl who had no luck.
Xiao Mei climbed back onto the bed and began talking seriously to it.
"Alright, Pao Pei, what do I need to do? Tell me."
Pao Pei stood upright, imitating a knowledgeable posture, and started giving instructions.
"First, Master needs to change locations. The meteorite that collided with Earth contains ice blocks that are keeping the virus frozen. When it falls, half of the people on Earth will definitely be infected. This... I think it's called a zombie here. This area is overcrowded with life forms. You're so weak, Master, you'd die in the zombie horde before you even start."
"I know that well enough. I almost died once already," Xiao Mei muttered, starting to doubt that Pao Pei might regret picking her as its master.
"I won't get infected, will I?" She was genuinely worried about becoming one of the infected.
"Your blood test shows immunity. Unless you're bitten by an evolved zombie, you won't get infected," Pao Pei said.
Xiao Mei sighed in relief. At least she was immune. And it was true what Pao Pei said. The first thing she needed to worry about was finding a place to stay. Ideally, she should head outside the city. She had a grandmother in Henan, whom she hadn't seen in almost two months. She should go back to take care of her.
Xiao Mei had lived with her grandmother since childhood. Her parents had divorced when she was too young to remember, and now she didn't know where her father was. Her mother had remarried a long time ago. Returning to her grandmother in Henan seemed like the best choice.
But she needed money. Right now, she only had ten thousand yuan, and making a shelter with that was impossible. Being poor really restricted her options. Should she apply for a credit card?
"Let's sell some treasures," Xiao Mei decided, planning to sell everything she could.
"You have treasures?" Pao Pei checked and found that its master wasn't exactly rich.
Xiao Mei bared her teeth at Pao Pei, a little annoyed. "I have treasures, okay? I'll start by selling this gold necklace I'm wearing." She decided to keep only the pendant, which held the only photo of her parents' wedding, the only picture of her father she had.
"I have a gold necklace and a ring. I'll sell anything in this room that can be sold. Even my motorcycle!"
Pao Pei felt that... this woman really planned to be left with nothing but herself...